Designers Suhyun Yoo, Eunah Kim & Jinwoo Chae probably couldn’t take oddly-angled sockets any longer, because they came up with the Donut Outlet concept design.

Basically, the Donut lets you to hook up your plugs quickly and easily into the socket, without any of the guesswork or inconveniences. You don’t need to move anything so that the holes of the socket are visible. The Donut has a ring-shaped connector so you can just plug it in, even without looking at the socket itself.

It’s a pretty neat design and a useful one at that. But is it technically feasible? Guess we have to wait and see.

[via Yanko Design]

As expected, each module can work independent of the others. A power strip with only one outlet may sound like a joke, but as you’ll see in the second picture in the gallery below it’ll still come in handy in some instances. But again, the important thing is that you can rearrange the bricks and that they come in different sizes, making it easy to fit all kinds of plugs.

I’m sure that this concept still has its limits though. There has to be a limit to the number of devices that can be strung together in one mega power strip. And as commenters at Yanko Design have pointed out, if you insert even one plug that had no ground prong, it would negate the point of the ground prongs on the other plugs.

I wonder if this concept really is feasible, and if so, if it could be taken to the extreme: skip the bricks and convert plugs and adapters themselves into modular power strips.

[via Yanko Design]

[via Fancy via Ohgizmo]

The model measures about 12″ high, 17″ long and 6″ wide. It’s shipped flat along with the necessary nuts and bolts, so if assembling things is your thing then its practical function may just be an added bonus for you.

You can order the *deep breath* DIY Wooden AT-AT Power Extension Socket Storage Box *whew* from Brando for $35 (USD).

[via Internet Siao]

It’s circular and has room for six plugs, and its round design easily can accommodate multiple AC adapters at the same time. The Pod includes surge protection and an on/off switch. When it’s not being used, you can hide it away and make it look like a pen holder.

It might make sense for certain uses, like in corporate environments, but my power strips are always in use, so the pen caddy would never get used. Still, the Power Pod could look good on a nice desk – until you start cluttering it up with ugly cables and power packs.

The Coalesse Power Pod will go on sale for $99 (USD)  on March 21st.

[via NYT Gadgetwise]

I might want my PC on all the time, but the printer, speakers and all the other powered crap sitting on the desk attached to the PC don’t need to be on all the time. A new power strip called the HiSaver has surfaced that makes it easy to save power when you leave the room. The HiSaver Powerbar has a remote motion-detecting sensor that sits on your desk. When you leave the room for at least ten minutes, four of the outlets on the thing turn off automatically to save juice.

One outlet at the top of the machine stays on all the time for the PC itself. If you need more than one always-on outlet, one of the four motion sensing outlets can be changed to always on with a flip switch. The thing is cool and can be purchased now for $109.99(USD), making it one of the more costly power strips you’ll ever see.

These power-strip USB hubs made by Elecom [JP] come in two varieties, 4 or 7 ports, which can each be switched off individually to stop your gadgets from consuming excess power.

They even have neodymium magnets on the back so can be attached to any steel surface (although you wouldn’t want to stick one too close to your hard drive if you care about your data). They also come with a bunch of stickers to allow you to identify which device is powered by which port.

They’re available now in Japan, but you can get one imported from Geek Stuff 4 U for $40.70 (USD) for the 4-port version. The 7-port version sells for $106.15.

[via Crunchgear]

Here’s a Home TV Shopping-ish demo of Wet Circuits:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

AI-YA! You can buy Wet Circuits at its official website for $35 (USD). They’re also selling something called a “Power Oulet”. AI-YA!

[via Engadget]

The Pivot Power strip features a unique flexible outlet system, in which each individual outlet can be rotated to maximize space for adapters.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This simple, yet ingenious little invention still needs some more orders before it’s actually produced, so head on over to Quirky, and plunk down your pre-sale commitment for $23. If they hit their 960 order goal, they’ll move forward and make ‘em. If not, you’ll be stuck with your crappy old power strip, and we wouldn’t want that.

As you can see, you can plug in up to 4 sockets to Icon Socket. It also has a magnet screwed on its back, so you can mount it on the legs of your desk, or on your file cabinet, although I’m not sure if the magnet is strong enough to bear the full-force of 4 sockets. Takumi’s Icon Socket sells for ¥3,150 ($34 (USD)) at the Japanese online store e-goods. Not Japanese? You can still purchase the Icon Socket through Rinkya.

[via a rinkya blog]

The outlets are widely spaced so that even the bulkiest of adapters won’t block the other outlets (the 3rd outlet is on the other side. I think.), and it plugs it into itself when not in use, eliminating cable clutter. Measuring only  1.8″ x 2.25″ x 4.75″ and weighing a scant 6 oz., it’s a nice accessory for the traveling techie. You can buy the Outlets To Go power strip with USB port at Radio Shack for only $25 USD.